11
God’s love for Israel
1 “Before the Israeli people became a nation [MET],
I loved them like a man loves his son,
and I called them out of Egypt.
2 But while I continued to call them,
they continued to turn away from me more and more.
They offered sacrifices to their statues of Baal,
and they burned incense to honor them.
3 The people of Israel were like a little boy [MET],
and it was as though it was I who taught them to walk,
holding them by their hands.
But they did not realize that it was I who was taking care of them.
4 It was as though I fastened ropes around them to lead them,
while I loved them and was kind to them.
It was as though they were young oxen [MET],
and I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.
5 But the people of Israel will become slaves again,
like they were in Egypt,
and the people of Assyria will [RHQ] rule over them,
because the people of Israel refused to repent.
6 Their enemies will use their swords to attack the cities in Israel
and will destroy the bars in the gates of the city walls.
As a result, the people of Israeli will not be able to accomplish the things that they planned to do.
7 My people are determined to ◄turn away from/abandon► me.
They say that I am the great all-powerful God,
but they do not honor me at all.
8 You people of Israel, I certainly do not want to [RHQ] abandon you
and allow your enemies to capture you.
I do not [RHQ] want to act toward you like I acted toward Admah and Zeboiim,
cities that I completely destroyed when I destroyed Sodom.
I [SYN] have changed my mind about punishing you;
my desire to pity you has increased.
9 Although I am extremely angry,
I do not want to punish you severely;
I do not want to ◄devastate/completely ruin► Israel.
Humans would easily decide to do that,
but I am God, not a human.
I, the Holy One, am with you;
although I am very angry with you, I will not destroy you.
10 You will follow me when I roar like [SIM] a lion;
when I roar, some of you my children will tremble as you return to Israel from the islands and seacoasts toward the west.
11 Some of you will come swiftly from Egypt
like a flock of birds;
others will return from Assyria, like doves.
I will enable you to live in your homes in Israel again.
That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.”
Israel and Judah are condemned now
12 Yahweh says, “The people of Israel have ◄surrounded me with lies/constantly told lies to me►.
And the people of Judah have also turned/rebelled against me, their God,
the Holy One who always does what I promise to do,
and the people of Judah worship other gods.”